Note: I tried my best in writing the out the adoption process, I apologize if it isn't accurate to the real life process.
~*~
Hinata and Komaeda quickly realized that the adoption process was both very lengthy as well as extremely difficult. It took months of personal record checks, home inspections, dozens of questions, and everything else you could possibly think of before they were finally able to have the opportunity to spend time with children at an orphanage.
The couple sat waiting at the entrance to the orphanage, Hinata twiddling his thumbs while Komaeda fiddled with his phone. They had been awaiting this moment for almost an entire year now; they had come this far and yet they still couldn't believe that they were this close to actually becoming parents.
Hinata glanced over at Komaeda, and grabbed a hold on his free hand, catching the other one's attention. "You nervous?" He asked, causing Komaeda to chuckle slightly. "Nervous is an understatement." Was his reply.
Hinata smiled, squeezing the pale hand in his in reassurance. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll all be just fine. Just don't panic in front of the kids alright?" Komaeda nodded, feeling his worries calm down a bit just as a door swung open, revealing a young woman with kind eyes and a nice smile. "Mr. Hinata and Mr. Komaeda?" The two stood up and approached the women, hands still intertwined as she ushered them through the door.
"Around this time once every week, we gather all the children in the orphanage to play together while potential parents spend time with them. We only ask that you refrain from touching any of them, besides that you're both free to talk and play with them." she explained as they walked down a hallway with many doors. She came to a stop at the end of the hall, the chattering of children being audible from the other side of the double doors. "If you have any questions, I'll stand by this door if you need me."
The two men could only nod, the nerves finally catching up to them as they were unable to find their voices to speak. Hinata gave Komaeda's hand a light squeezed as he looked up at the taller one, trying to give him the best reassuring smile he could give. Komaeda smiled back, even though the nervousness was obvious on his face. With a deep breath, the two opened and stepped through the doors together.
The room was brightly lit and full of life as children of all ages ran around playing with one another. Some sat quietly in a corner reading books while others were focused on coloring or painting in character books. Eitherway, they all seemed too preoccupied to notice the two newcomers who had entered the room. Hinata glanced over to his husband, who had the definition of anxiety clear on his face. "T-there's a lot of them..." he said quietly, eyes wide as he gave the room a one-over.
Hinata gave a slight chuckle. "Of course there is, but don't get intimidated by it okay? Let's just say hi to them one by one, it'll be fine." Hinata said, and he didn't fail to notice the way Komaeda was clenching to his hand tighter now. Nonetheless, he nodded his head and headed for the nearest table of kids by the door, bringing Hinata along with him.
The two took their time talking and getting to know each child they encountered, talking about things like what they were doing or what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was... a bit bittersweet really, knowing that all these children didn't have parents. It reminded Komaeda too much of himself and when he lost his own parents....
He shook his head to clear himself of the thought. They had been here for a couple of hours now, and Hinata had excused himself to go to the bathroom, leaving Komaeda to his own devices. He wasn't really sure where to go now, and the thought of going to someone without Hinata made his stomach twist and turn.
It wasn't until he gave the room another one-over that he spotted someone neither he nor Hinata had talked to yet. A little girl with brown hair and clear blue eyes sat in the corner of the room by herself, stacking a bunch of alphabet blocks on top of each other. She was definitely among one of the younger children in the room, if he had to guess he would say she was either two or three.
Komaeda approached her quietly, only catching her attention when he bent down on the floor in front of her. "Hi there." he said quietly, a soft and kind smile on his face. The girl looked at him with weary eyes, but nonetheless said "Hi" back to him in an equally weary voice.
"So she's one of the shy ones huh..." Komaeda thought. It explained why she was playing by herself it seems.
"May I ask what your name is?" he asked her. She hesitated for a second, but eventually she answered with "Mirai..." in a voice so soft that Komaeda almost didn't catch it in the loud chatter of the room. "Mirai huh? That's a very pretty name Mirai-chan." Komaeda answered, changing his position of sitting and opting to sit criss crossed instead. At the compliment, a small smile went up on her face, and Komaeda felt his heart melt at the sight.
"Thank you..." she mumbled, before she grabbed another block off to the side and then... reached over to him with it?
Komaeda blinked for a second, looking down at the block in her small hand before taking it into his own. He looked up at her and saw her staring at him expectantly, then back to her slowly forming tower of blocks. "Ah, do you want me to help you build your tower...?" he asked Mirai, earning himself another smile and a small nod from her. Komaeda felt the smile on his face grow as he gently placed the block on top of the tower....
Which then caused the whole thing to unceremoniously tip over.
"A-ah! Komaeda gasped as the blocks scattered around them. "Of course." Komaeda thought pitifully. "Things were going too well, I knocked down her tower and she's gonna cry and hate me-"
To his surprise though, Mirai started laughing, the joy evident on her face despite the destruction of her tower. "Again! Again!" she shouted gleefully, already beginning to stack the blocks on top of each other. Komaeda let out a sigh of relief as he began helping her rebuild the tower, this time higher, and then knocking it over again.
"Nagito?" Hinata's voice came from behind him, and Komaeda whirled to see his husband watching them both with a fond smile on his face. He approaches the two and sits with them, instantly making Mirai go back to being shy and weary with another person in her presence. Hinata is unperturbed by it though, still smiling kindly at her as he asks her for her name.
Eventually, the three of them are playing together, and the smile on her face returns as she quickly warms up to Hinata just like she did with Komaeda. They stayed together for the rest of the visit, and it hurt them both when she sadly said goodbye to them in the end.
Even after they left the building, the couple sat in the parking lot for a while in silence, thinking over the visit they had just had.
".... Hajime?" Komaeda finally said after a while. Hinata turned to him, a knowing look on his face but replying with "yeah?" anyways.
Komaeda pursed his lips together. "I know this was just the first visit, but...."
When he didn't continue on, Hinata smiled warmly at him, grabbing his hand once more into a tight grip. "Mirai, right?"
".... Yeah." Komaeda said, the same smile on his face. "I want to take Mirai home with us."
~*~*~*~*~*~
The following weeks after that first visit were spent getting to know Mirai more. They visited a few times every week, and every time she saw them her face lit up happily without fail. While at first they spent time together in the same room with the other kids, soon they were brought to a separate room where just the three of them could talk and play together.
Besides building and knocking over towers, Mirai liked flowers and spent a lot of time drawing a bunch of them all at once. One drawing of a bunch of yellow and red flowers she even gave to Hinata as a gift, which he hung up on the fridge the second they returned home.
She also liked soft things, and would often try to grab Komaeda's hair that, according to her, "looks like a fluffy sheep". Komaeda had laughed, and since then the phrase stuck to his mind whenever he looked at himself in the mirror.
It only took a month for the adoption papers to be officially finalized.
The day that they got to take Mirai home was a day that neither of them would ever forget. They had spent days before preparing the house for her arrival, although no amount of preparation could rid of the constant feeling of anxiety within them.
But the moment they saw her waiting for them in the office of the adoption center, what little belongings she had off to the side of her, the anxiety and nerves just seemed to vanish.
And walking out of that same building with her in Hinata's arms was all the more surreal.
Of course, the first thing Mirai noticed when she walked into the house was Jinx, who at first looked up at her curiously before she walked around the child in circles, rubbing her head against her and purring as Mirai giggled.
Hinata and Komaeda stared at them in awe, before Hinata approached Mirai and hugged her from behind. "This kitty's name is Jinx, Mirai." he said to her. "She's our kitty, but now she's your kitty too.
She looked up at him in confusion at first, clear blue staring into honey green. "My kitty?" she repeated after him. Komaeda chuckled as he bent down alongside Hinata, a wide smile on his face as well. "Yes, your kitty Mirai. You're part of our family now, so this home is your home too."
She stared at them for a moment before a smile flashed on her face and she jumped at them, her small arms only barely wrapping the both of them into a hug. Hinata and Komaeda laughed as they hugged their daughter in the tightest hug possible.
The worry, anxiety, fear, everything from before was gone. They were going to be just fine.
They were a family after all.